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Monday, February 9, 2009

The collaboration between Nike subsidiary Cole Haan and Maria Sharapova is about to enter its full-fledged launch.

The Russian fashionista, who's slated to return in March from injured-reserve, will be starring in the brand's new ad campaign for her collection of handbags and shoes. It debuts this week in the March issue of Vanity Fair.

The ads will also appear in Conde Nast mags Vogue and Lucky, Hearst Magazines’Harper’s Bazaar, Time Inc.’s InStyle and American Express Publishing’s Travel + Leisure while a catalog of the collection will be polybagged in the April issue of Hachette Filipacchi Media'sElle.

BONUS: Here's Shrieka discussing her relationship with Nike, the Cole Haan collection, and some behind-the-scenes footage from the campaign shoot on Entertainment Tonight...

Hey give her a break (although she has had one for a while), its nice that, like some of her fellow pro tennis players, maria is doing other things..you all have to understand that her career in tennis isnt going to last forever and she needs something to fall back on. I like that fact that she is starting to learn about the business now, rather then 10 years down the road after she retires..I think that outside interests can be a negative, but also a possitive for professional atheletes..kind of like serena..if all you do is think "tennis, tennis, tennis" you are going to end up like justine henin, retired at 25!! I think Maria has come a long way since her ice queen days from when she first came out on the tour...

anon: Tell us how you really feel! Love it. No I have to say she pulls off this stuff better than some other lady ballers. But Shrieka's always seemed cold and aloof to me so none of that is particularly surprising.

Jonus: Yeah it's def important to have a post-tennis life and she's actually balanced these off-court activities relatively well. I have no worries she'll be fine in her retirement.

100% focus on tennis only didn't go well for the Belgians(think Justine), despite the fact that they were talented.

I'm all for what Shrieka does off court.It makes her come back hungrier and makes 4 a long lasting career. The Williams sisters are pushing 30 and they're still around winning slams.And we all know how they do it. I'd like to see Shrieka do the same.

Tho i gotta say she'd always come off as an ice-queen to me.i donno maybe thts just me.

I really dont think Maria tries to play the girl next door thing at all (maybe I just dont see it)to me she behaves just like a normal 21 year old. I think Ana plays up the GND thing much more. I very much doubt we will see Maria giving the camera death staresand bitching about all of her rivals any time soon. She does look gorgeous in the ET video though.

I can't find it now but I read an article where a journalist who interviews tennis players a lot for some TV show said Maria was her least favorite person to interview. She said Maria was cold and arrogant. Before one interview, while they were setting up the camera, the journalist said Hi to Maria and she just stared at her then when the camera start rolling she was all giggly and smiling.

You can tell by her demeanor on court that her personality isn't appealing. I'm surprised she has so many endorsements because she's kind of off putting. You can sense it with the crowd too, they rarely cheer for her.

Lisa: The irony here is that type of cold, aloof personality really plays well in the kind of marketing she does. Luckily she's not selling kidswear, cooking, or trying to get puppies adopted.

The tall, blonde, aloof, unattainable type persona sells sex, fashion, luxury brands very well - and these are the big money makers in this world. So, she's quite the catch in terms of their marketing.

It'll be interesting to see how this Cole Haan partnership works because it's a more mass market brand. It could be mutually beneficial: the brand could help soften her image while at the same time she could help give Cole Haan more of a cache.